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Wrapup: Flyers Grit Out 4-1 Win over Isles; Gain Ground in Wildcard Chase |
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In dire need of a bounceback game coming off a desultory home loss on Saturday, the Philadelphia Flyers gritted out a quality 4-1 win over the New York Islanders at Barclays Center on Monday night.
Steve Mason gave the Flyers a stellar performance in goal. He turned back 23 of 24 shots -- not a huge quantity but a large percentage, starting with an opening minute breakaway -- were of the difficult variety.
The Flyers got goals by Nick Cousins, Brandon Manning, Sam Gagner and Claude Giroux (empty net). Jakub Voracek, Andrew MacDonald, Mark Streit, Sean Couturier, Michael Raffl, Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds earned an assist apiece. Cousins had several other scoring chances in addition to his goal. Giroux was 18-for-23 (78 percent) on faceoffs.
Philadelphia's penalty kill, led by the goaltender and some key blocks, stepped up to go 3-for-3. The Manning goal was scored exiting the penalty box moments after a spectacular save by Mason. The Flyers power play went 0-for-4.
The lone Islanders' goal was scored by Kyle Okposo on a second-effort play at the net. Calvin de Haan got an assist. Thomas Greiss played commendably in making 23 saves on 26 shots in a losing cause.
Actually, the Islanders did not play a bad game. They forechecked hard and really pushed the pace on the Flyers at times. Philly bent but didn't break. The defeat marked the first time the Islanders have lost in regulation on home ice since January 25.
Mason denied Nikolai Kulemin with a blocker save on a breakaway in the opening minute. At the 53-second mark, Sean Couturier was called for tripping Tavares. New York applied very heavy pressure but the Flyers survived.
The Islanders continued to bring heavy puck pressure and a fast pace at the Flyers. at the 6:10 mark, Couturier powered the puck down low into the Islanders' zone and drew a holding penalty on Cal Clutterbuck to give the Flyers their first power play. Shots were 6-0 at this point.
The second power play unit got the Flyers' first two looks at the net of the game after the recently struggling first unit fought the puck for the first half of the advantage. After the power play ended, fourth line center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare got Philly's first shot of the game.
With 9:21 left, the Flyers got their first bonafide scoring chance of the game as Giroux got off a 20-foot scorcher from a feed by Gostisbehere. Greiss made the save and held on for a stoppage.
After an Islanders had a 3-on-2 rush off a Voracek turnover, Nick Cousins wristed a shot that handcuffed Greiss and nearly trickled over the goal line before the defense reeled it in. On his next shift, Cousins carried in on a sealed off 2-on-1 rush and wisely elected to shoot instead of forcing a pass. Greiss made the save.
Nick Schultz went to the penalty box for tripping Shane Prince in the defensive zone at 15:20, giving the Isles their second power play. The Flyers had a better kill this time, not yielding much to the Islanders.
Greiss swallowed up a Schenn shot from the top of the left circle with 1:58 left in the opening period.
Behind the Flyers net, Nick Cousins was boarded by Josh Bailey at 18:57. His ankle buckled as he
went in to the end wall. Cousins got up slowly but shook it off and seemed OK on the bench. The Flyers took 57-seconds of carryover power play time into the second period.
Shots in the first period were 8-6 in the Islanders' favor.
Greiss stopped a tough Voracek shot on the carryover power play time and left out no rebound with Simmonds lurking nearby. The remaining time expired.
Voracek carried the puck into the offensive zone and tracked down his own errant shot attempt. In the meantime, Cousins went to the net to take a perfect Voracek pass from the left side and directed the puck past Greiss to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead at 2:24.
At 3:54, the Islanders got the goal right back on a multi-attempt effort by Okposo on a delayed penalty, jamming a loos puck near the crease through Mason's pads after a shot by Kulemin. Calvin de Haan got the secondary assist.
As the period progressed, the Islanders' forechecking forced the Flyers to workhard just to get puck out of their own zone. There were multiple desperation clearing attempts, few breakouts. Finally, at 10:48, Brandon Manning took a cross-checking penalty as Mason stopped the second of a two-shot flurry in tight. Mason made a pair of late saves, including a sprawling stop.
As Manning exited the box, he got the puck in stride on an Andrew MacDonald clearing pass that hit the linesman and went right to him. Reaching the offensive zone, Manning sniped a left circle shot upstairs for his first NHL goal in his 66th NHL game. Mark Streit got the secondary assist at 13:01.
Fifty-seven seconds later, Gudas upended Kulemin with a hip check on the boards. Kulemin went off very slowly favoring a leg. Shortly thereafter, the Flyers took advantage of a broken stick and got an odd-man rush. From 17 feet out, Sam Gagner hit the crossbar at 15:36.
Mason left out a rebound on a shot through traffic and then made a spectacular pad save on Kulemin to steal a would-be goal at 17:33. Mason then denied a left circle shot on a well-defended 2-on-1 with a blocker save into the corner.
With 11.7 seconds left in the period, Scott Laughton kept his feet moving and drew a neutral zone hooking penalty on Brock Nelson. Philly got its third power play. Second period shots were 12-9 in the Flyers' favor; 18-17 in the Flyers' favor.
The Flyers were not able to score on the carryover power play time. There were a few anxious moments with near-counters for the Islanders on mishandled pucks but no harm resulted. With 17:22 left, Greiss swallowed up a sharp angle blast by Laughton.
Giroux took an icing with 16:30 left. The Islanders won the draw but the Flyers gained control quickly and got the puck to safety.
At 4:22, the Flyers got some insurance. After Michael Raffl retrieved a puck and got it to Couturier, who threaded a lucky pass (more likely a shot attempt) between Greiss' legs. The puck went right to Gagner stationed near the right post and he had a tap-in for his eighth goal of the season to give the Flyers a 3-1 lead. Couturier and Raffl got the assists.
The Islanders pressured heavily right after the goal. Mason gloved a shot from high in the zone to calm down the play. With 11:42 left, Mason momentarily left out a rebound on a rising shot but fell on the loose puck to smother it. Twenty seconds later, Giroux took an icing.
Greiss denied Voracek on a quick wraparound try with 10:03 left on the clock. A tie-up in the Flyers defensive zone corner and an offensive left circle faceoff for the Islanders followed immediately thereafter. The Flyers won the next battle and then had some offensive zone time again for about 20 seconds.
With 8:02 left, Mason fought off a shot Bailey deflected through traffic and, after the rebound, bounced around, the Islanders' Strome hit the post.
Philly took yet another icing with 6:44 left. The Islanders sent out Tavares to go up against Giroux, who won the draw cleanly. The Flyers cleared.
With 5:28 left, Matt Martin stupidly crashed into Mason with the puck nowhere nearby; creating the Flyers' fourth power play. The Flyers had good puck movement -- no goal -- but two more minutes ticked off the clock.
After the penalty expired, Islanders' coach Jack Capuano wasted no time pulling Greiss for an attacker. Bellemare hit the post from the Islanders side of the red line. After an Islanders' flurry, Voracek took an icing aiming for the empty net from his own side of the red line. Hakstol called time out.
The Islanders pushed heavily as the Flyers sagged back. Mason made a stop that deflected over the glass. The Flyers got a line change. Schultz blocked a shot. The Islanders pressed more.
Philadelphia took an icing with 42.9 seconds left. Brayden Schenn worked a puck out to Simmonds. who fed Giroux. From the Islanders side of the red line, Giroux found the empty net to ice a 4-1 win with his 19th goal of the season at 19:33.
Third period shots were 9-7 Flyers; 27-24 Flyers for the game.
With the win, the Flyers pulled within one point of the idle Detroit Red Wings for the lower Eastern Conference wildcard seed and narrowed the gap with the Islanders for the higher wildcard seed to the three points. Philly still holds one game in hand on the Red Wings with one head-to-head game between the teams remaining.
The Flyers are right back in action on Tuesday, visiting the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Red Wings are on the road to play the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday. Both Philly and the Islanders have played 71 games to date. The Flyers will play the final game of the regular season in Brooklyn on April 10.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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